It is well known that sinks intended for installation in homes, apartments and restaurants are shipped without any drain fittings or faucets mounted thereon, so it is necessary for the plumber to install components associated with the drain as well as the faucets upon such sinks before they can be put into use.
At the bottom central portion of the sink, a drain hole is provided to receive the drain connection, with this being a circular hole typically configured to receive a sink strainer therein. It is well known that the drain connection involves components to be installed both above and below the sink, with these components including a strainer base equipped with exterior threads that is inserted from above into the drain hole, and a trap member utilized below the drain hole. The trap member is internally threaded to receive the threads of the strainer base. Leakage is prevented by the utilization of one or more ring shaped washers that are disposed between the interfitted members and the sink.
One type of strainer base commonly utilized in industrial sinks is ring shaped, having an upper flange and a lower flange that are interconnected by a throat portion. A strainer base as provided by Franklin Machine Products of Marlton, New Jersey, for example, is approximately 43/8 inches in diameter and is to be received in a threaded trap opening slightly over 3 inches in diameter.
A pair of oppositely-disposed slots are provided in the lower flange, which slots are intended to be used by the plumber at the time the strainer base is to be installed in an interfitting relationship with the sink trap member. Although a gasket member is utilized between the underside of the upper flange of the strainer base and the portion of the sink surrounding the drain hole, it is nevertheless important for the plumber to tighten the strainer base tightly enough into the trap member as to prevent undesired leakage at the juncture between the sink and components.
Unfortunately, vendors of popularly used strainer bases do not usually provide an installation tool to be used by the plumber at the time the strainer base is to be installed, so most plumbers find themselves resorting to a rather primitive practice, which is to install the strainer base by hand as tightly as possible, and to then utilize a hammer and screwdriver, or other hand-driven means, to complete the tightening process.
In accordance with one aforementioned procedure used in lieu of a suitable tool, the screwdriver is inserted into the sink drain at a decided angle, with the tip of the screwdriver in one of the notches located in the lowermost flange of the strainer base. The upper part of the handle of the screwdriver is then struck one or more times with the hammer, so as to cause the tip of the screwdriver to bring about rotation of the strainer base for a number of degrees in the drain hole of the sink. In doing so, the external threads of the strainer base engage the internal threads of the trap with ever-increasing tightness, until the components have been interfitted and torqued in such a manner as to prevent leakage.
The tightening of the strainer base by repeatedly striking one or both of the notches in the lower flange by the use of a screwdriver and hammer requires a considerable amount of skill if significant damage to the components is to be avoided, and despite careful efforts, may be necessary to secure a replacement for the originally-provided strainer base because of unacceptable damage inflicted to the device during such an installation procedure.
It is the purpose of this invention to improve to a considerable extent over the practices of the prior art by providing a highly effective one-piece hand-operated tool of low cost, by the use of which the strainer base can be readily installed, without damage, in the drain hole of the sink.